Church in Wales announces amalgamation of three parishes
"The Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph announced today that the parishes of Llanycil with Christ Church Bala, Llangower, and Llanuwchllyn have taken the brave decision to join forces - a decision that could result in three of the four church buildings within these parishes being declared redundant. The church councils of each parish have faced up to the reality of their respective situations and come to some difficult decisions. They have agreed that the cause of the Gospel will be better served in the Bala area if resources are concentrated in one church building. It seems likely therefore that the final services have already been held in the church buildings in Llangower and Llanycil with the likely final service at Llanuwchllyn church being a Plygain service on 4th January 2004. "

Church and chapel data from
The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 11, North Wales. Ed. by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, UWP,
1981. The names given towards the end of each entry are those of the informants.

LLANGOWER, or LLANGYWAIR (LLAN-GOWER), a parish in the hundred of PENLLYN, county of MERIONETH, NORTH WALES, 3 miles (S. by W.) from Bala, containing 412 inhabitants. This parish, which is about five miles in length and three in breadth, is beautifully situated on the south-eastern side of Bala lake, and on the turnpike road leading from Dinasmowddwy to Bala and Corwen. The surface is varied, being in some parts rocky and mountainous, and in others swampy and marshy, producing peat in great abundance, which forms the principal fuel of the inhabitants. The surrounding scenery is richly diversified, and in some places highly picturesque, the parish comprising part of the Berwyn range of mountains, from which is a fine view of Bala lake, of the Aran and Arenig mountains in the distance, and of the intervening country, which is rich in every variety of beauty. The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £ 5. 5., endowcd with £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Bishop of St. Asaph. The church, dedicated to St. Gwyr, is an ancient structure, in the early style of English architecture, and is beautifully situated, with the small village around it, on the south-eastern side of the lake : in the churchyard is an ancient yew tree of remarkable growth. There is a place of worship for Calvinistic Methodists. At the north-eastern extremity of Bala lake are two mounds of earth, one of which bears the name of Castell Grono Bevro Benllyn, "the castle of Goronow the Fair of Penllyn," from its having been the site of a strong hold occupied by that chieftain, who is said to have lived in the time of Maelgwyn Gwynedd, about the beginning of the sixth century. Near this place is Fynnon Gwyr, a well to which, under the auspices of that saint, extraordinary virtues were attributed. The Rev. Edward Lloyd, A. M., was for forty years incumbent of this parish : he is known as the author of a work in the Welsh language, entitled Meddyginiaeth, a tract on the Sacrament, which he translated from that published by Bishop Patrick : he died in 1685. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £198. (
A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis, 1833)